Discovering the Invisible Man essays

Discovering the Invisible Man essays In Ralph Ellisons novel, Invisible Man, the narrators search to find an identity for himself is harsh journey of internal and external struggles through which several incongruous identities are forced upon him. This experience teaches the narrator that the act of placing a title on someone is linked to issues of power and control. He only finds betrayal, and never a true identity when he attempts to live his life under someone elses accord. Through his words, the reader can see the narrator's development in realizing that he is invisible simply because people refuse to see or acknowledge him. Since he is a black man in a white mans world, he is obscured and indistinguishable to others. The text embodies the universal theme of self-discovery, of the search to figure out who one truly is in life, which the narrator achieves through confrontations with the corrupted Dr. Bledsoe, racial segregation and the influences of the tainted Brotherhood. Dr. Bledsoe is a major influence in the narrators search to find himself. At first, Dr. Bledsoe was somewhat of a role model for the narrator, as he saw the immense power, fortune and high position he held. The true side of Dr. Bledsoe was much different from what he portrayed to others. Bledsoe has three faces: one he shows to important whites, another he exhibits officially to the students of the college, and the private and true side he reveals to the narrator. When the narrator sees Bledsoes true nature, he soon comes to realize the corruption and malevolent methods that Dr. Bledsoe utilizes. This is the narrators first encounter with such deep-seated corruption. The narrators perception is that his world is at its deepest levels corrupted by certain varieties of radical dishonesty and manipulation (Butler 97). He sees this, when the man he idolizes, Dr. Bledsoe, is heavily entrenched in dishonesty and manipulation. &qu...